"THE SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF BANANA PLANTATIONS IN COSTA
RICA"
By Gerardo Vargas, Director of the Social Pastorate of the Diocese of
Limon and Coordinator of the Foro Emaus
In national institutions and
in different international forums, the Foro Emaus and the banana workers unions
in Costa Rica have denounced the violations of workers’ rights that continue to
be perpetrated on the banana plantations. However, despite some superficial
legal reforms, the banana plantation management disregards these, to employs
pressure tactics by means of pro-management workers associations, and by laying
off independent workers who claim their rights. After the laying off of union
leaders, many workers, men and women, tend to become fearful. We also find that
"black-listing" continues to be a common practice used to persecute
those who fight for their rights. These workers are sent to carry out the most
undesirable duties, or are laid off on the spot.
In addition, for already
almost two decades banana plantation management has employed the strategy of
requiring workers to join the Solidarista Associations, these negotiate working
conditions that favor the interests of management, and completely limit the
independence of workers.
According to the Pastoral
Letter of the Bishop and Priests of the Apostolic Vicariate of Limon dated the
25th of December of 1989: "The freedom of workers to organize, besides
being a right, is the only means they have to demand the implementation of
justice and to search for better employment alternatives. However, we find that
Solidarista Association are tending to eliminate the other forms of worker
organizations."
Another problem in the banana
plantations is the exploitation and the discrimination of women. In most cases,
they receive lower salaries, carry out long working days, and do not have
adequate protection for the manipulation of pesticides. Generally, these women
are single mothers who rent homes, and are exposed to continual sexual
harassment on the part of foremen and at times, on the part of their own
working partners.
They must leave their small
children in precarious conditions, where they are exposed to abuse by adults.
This occurs constantly, according to the reports of the Clinics for Adolescents
of the Social Security Program. In addition, most of these women fear joining
unions, as this results in almost certain umemployment home.
In addition, despite
denunciatons before public auditories, in almost all the banana plantations,
under-age workers are hired for dangerous jobs, in this way violating national
and international laws, As a result some minors have died due to pesticide
intoxication, as the National Ombudsman (Defensoría de los Habitantes) and the
National Institute of Infant Care (PANI) reveal in their reports.
The banana industry,
especially during this recent period of expansion, attracted thousands of
foreign migrant workers, mostly from Nicaragua, to the banana plantations. The
majority, because of their condition as illegal migrants, are subject to
demeaning working conditions: they receive low salaries, they, live crowded in
poor housing conditions, they suffer high exposure to pesticides, have a
deficient diet, and are subject to immigration police black-mail. In like
manner, although in smaller numbers, the same situation occurs with the Guaymi
Indians on the plantations in Sixaola near the border with Panama.
In this context, the enormous
pressure for land in the Atlantic Zone has even generated violence on the part
of large land owners, especially in the zones of Sarapiqui and in the county of
Pococi.
In the Caribbean region are
negatively offected by the banana industry important indigenous populations,
Cabecar land , Bribri peoples are seriously threatened by the environmental
impacts of the banana industry with the contamination of their rivers, pressure
on their lands, the low lands in particular, as well as the negative effect on
their cultural values when their youth become salaried workers on the
plantations.
The demands of European and
North American consumers, who divide in almost equally parts nearly 100 million
cases of bananas a year (1996: 105 million, according to official figures),
induce the banana companies to serve a cosmetically perfect product on their
breakfast tables: bananas that are big, yellow and without blemishes. This
requires the use of large amounts and varieties of pesticides and fertilizers
in. Because the market is dominated by these transnational companies, the
bananas that do not comply with these characteristics are thrown out as waste
that contaminates areas around the same banana plantations.
The banana industry utilizes
35 percent of all the pesticides imported to Costa Rica every year. This
represents, incidently, almost 30 percent of the final cost of production of
export bananas. Generally, the pesticides used form part of what are known
worldwide as the "Dirty Dozen".
With respect to
deforestation, 30 percent of the current banana plantations were covered with
forests when they were bought by the banana companies. The intense process of
deforestation has affected the existence of species such as the howler monkeys,
protected bird species, sloths and species like the manatees, as well as an
enormous variety of insects.
The banana companies, in
their quest for profit, have broken the laws and have deforested the edges of
rivers in order to plant bananas. They have not even fully used the felled
trees, for many were cut down and burned or left to rot, despite the fact that
much of it was precious wood.
The consequences of this indiscriminate
deforestation appeared later on in river overflows and floods, resulting in
eroded and contaminated soils. The waters of the canals made in the banana
plantations, carried toxic chemicals and plastic bags to rivers and then to the
sea, resulting in the death and destruction of fish and coral reefs.
To have an idea of the
magnitude of the solid wastes abandoned on the banana plantations themselves,
for every kilogram of bananas exported, 2.5 kilograms of waste are produced in
the form of plastic bags, reject bananas, empty recipients of pesticides, and
plastic cords.
With this level of
contamination, it is logical that the productivity per area is adverity. The
result is that every 15 years the banana companies search for new lands and
slowly abandon the lands they have contaminated, as occurred in the Southern
Zone, with lands saturated with copper sulfate.
The amounts of pesticides
used on the banana plantations and their high toxicity, are directly related to
the system of intensive monoculture production which provokes the
multiplication and resistance of natural pests.
Since the European market of
Costa Rican bananas is regulated by licenses and quotas, and on the other hand,
is free in the United States and other countries that are not members of the
European Union, a battle between private enterprise and governments has been
waged in recent years with the European Union in order to open the field for a
dollarized banana, a matter that is still in conflict with the interests of the
ex-colonies of Europe. Finally, it appears that only new production was
threatened, This was able to be placed in other markets, including in Europe,
once the exports from other Latin American countries were restricted. Let us
recall that Costa Rica is the second largest exporter of bananas in the world,
second only to Ecuador, who doubles our yearly exports.
Almost all the large
transnational companies are of US capital, I a minority of cases, they are
associated with national banana entrepreneurs, or they are independent,
modacen, nevertheless these must sell their fruit to transnational commercial
houses who control the market.
The panorama of the
transnational companies can be summarized thus: Bandeco commercializes under
the brand name Del Monte; Standard Fruit Co., under the brand name of Dole;
Cobal, Banacol and Uniban sell by way of Chiquita; and the Geest Caribbean Co.
has its own commercial brand. Geest Caribbean is now Costa Rican-Panamanian,
and Del Monte was recently bought by Chilean capital.
The current norms are for the
most part unknown, contradictory and difficult to apply, since there is no
political will to enforce them. The excuses are a lack of budget support, or
administrative slowness that escapes the competence of the entities in charge.
These justifications are employed both in terms of the environment and working
conditions. In addition, one can say that in practical terms, the law of the
jungle, or survival of the strongest, is the law of banana plantations,
ignoring the national and international norms for the banana industry.
Because of their silence,
both dominant political parties (PUSC and PLN) are also responsible, as they
have not manifested any concern form the violation of environmental and human
rights that occur on the banana plantations. In fact, there are cases where
some politicians are also banana entrepreneurs. This makes their silence and
their efforts to improve their own interests understandable.
The complaints of consumers
in organizations favoring fair trade and healthy food have forced companies to
reassess their publicity strategies. The goal was to convince consumers that in
their plantations in Costa Rica important changes were being realized to
improve environmental conditions. The same could not be said regarding working
conditions, since virtually nothing has changed since 1990 regarding union
rights.
New brands were then created
such as "Friendly Bananas", without chan-ging their pesticide
components, but simply with ecological makeup. The greatest audacity came
later, when they were able to get a Costa Rican environmentalist foundation to
certify with unverifyable criteria that the banana plantations could receive an
ecological seal, created by themselves, called "Eco-OK". The problem
is that all the plantations that belong to Chiquita Brands carry the seal of
environmental respect, when the truth is that very few changes have occurred,
cheating European consumers. This situation presents a great challenge to
European solidarity organizations and to the Foro Emaus, who is forced to
unmask this lie that affects the struggles of workers in general, and the
possibility that small producers of real organic bananas to have priority in
the markets of Europe and the United States.
"The history of the Foro Emaus”:
A GRASS ROOTS AND ECUMENICAL
STRUGGLE FOR THE DEFENSE OF LIFE
By Hernán Hermosilla of the Foro Emaus
For almost a century, Costa
Rica has been a banana producing nation. At the end of the XIX century the
transnational United Fruit Company installs its operations in Costa Rica. Later
on it moves from the Caribbean to the Southern Zone, and eventually abandons
the country on account of the strike of 1984. Several companies return to the
Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica with millionaire investments.
From 1985 onward the transnational
companies begin to pressure the government to develop a Plan for the Promotion
of the Banana Industry, which gives them juicy benefits by way of tax
exemptions and fiscal grants. This included a legal change, that went from a
business entity directed by the National Banana Association (ASBANA), to a
National Banana Corporation (CORBANA), in which governmental representatives
also participate. This new turn implied the authorization to expand its
territories into new agricultural land, the deregulation of environmental and
worker norms, and a strategy to eliminate the independent unions, replacing
them with pro-management Solidarista associations.
Since then, there has been a
veritable worsening of the quality of life in the surrounding communities and a
negative effect on the environment and biodiversity. Labor rights began to
deteriorate rapidly, and a new stage began, characterized by the violation of
the human rights of Costa Rican banana workers and of other ethnic minorities
of our country and Panama, as well as an intense exploitation of a foreign
labor force, in particular those without a clear migratory status.
In the mid-1980s a management
strategy began to be tried out in the Atlantic Zone of Costa Rica aimed at
destroying labor unions, that at that time had a strong presence in the banana
plantations. This was achieved with the combination of various factors, among
which was the approval of a Law that permitted the creation of
worker-management associations known as Solidarista Associations; the
employment of legal devices to discontinue the Collective Conventions and by
pressures placed on the easily manipulated permanent committees, and the
signing of Direct Agreements between groups of workers and the banana
companies, not to mention the complicity of the national press, linked to
powerful economic interests.
This situation was further
aggravated by errors committed by the labor union movement, such as the abuse
of the right to strike, and ideological dependence which connected its leadership
with of political parties, and not responding to the vital needs of workers and
their families. This situation was taken advantage of by the promoters of
Solidarismo.
This process culminated in
fewer than ten years with the elimination of the Collective Conventions, the
principal legal instrument the Labor Unions counted on to regulate greater
equity in worker-management relations.
Since 1989, the international
situation began to change rapidly.
Because of the changes in the
Soviet Union and in the Socialist countries of Eastern Europe, the
transnational banana companies that controlled banana production and
commercialization, saw in the fall of the Berlin Wall, the opportunity to
increase their banana markets into the ex-socialist countries, and made plans
to expand banana production in Costa Rica. This proposal for the expansion of
banana plantations in Costa Rica, received the seal of approval from the
government economists.
The uncontrolled expansion of
banana plantations
The aim of increasing the area
under banana production was to have a greater amount of boxes of export bananas
by the early 1990s, no matter what the social or environmental costs. The
result was an uncontrollable banana expansion. The Project of Expansion was
based on several conditions:
a) Availability of new lands.
This was made possible by pressuring small farmers to sell their land and after
buying them up, cutting down the primary and secondary forests on them, so that
with the subsequent forestry inspections, permits for changes in land use could
be obtained, these now being "appropriate lands for banana
plantations."
b)
Financial capital. The companies had the financial capital by way of their own funds and by
way of credits from the nationalized bank that made banana loans a priority.
c) Abundant supply of labor.
The supply of labor was abundant with the ex-small farmers that now became
salaried peons, and with the migration of labor from other regions of the
country (Central and North), as well as the unstoppable mass of undocumented
migrants, principally form Nicaragua, fleeing from grave economic, social and
political conditions.
d) Low salaries. The banana
companies, taking advantage of the crisis in neighboring countries, specially
in Nicaragua, lowered the salaries and reduced the few non-salary sources of
income the Costa Rican workers enjoyed up to 1985. From then on the companies
began to implement policies of subcontracting labor, the suspension of minimum
wages (with the suppression of the Collective Conventions) and the destruction
of labor stability.
The population of workers on
the banana plantations is estimated at 80,000 men and women workers, of which
around 15,000 have permanent work, while the rest must compete for 35,000
temporary positions, wandering from plantation to plantation in search of work
(as long as they are not on the computerized black lists for having rebelled
against some injustice or for having a pro-union inclination, in which case
they are not employed at all).
The Social Cost of the Expansion
Only 30 percent of the banana
workers have stable employment. The remaining 70 percent must roam the region.
The companies argue that all this is legal, as they apply the three month trial
period of hiring workers without having any further responsibilities to the
workers. But the companies avoid union organizing of workers, and in the case
of illegal migrants, they refuse to pay them other workers’ rights such as the
required year end gratuity, vacation payment, and social security. This occurs
especially if the contact has been made between the company and an unscrupulous
contractor.
Since 1990 the salaries of
the banana workers have not gone beyond an average of 250 dollars a month, a
relatively higher wage than that earned in other agricultural activities, but
one that does not pay the physical deterioration of the workers and the
elevated cost of living. A banana worker has a useful life of some 15 years for
the company. After that, the system ex-pels the worker who is no longer hired
after the age of 40.
Despite the fact that Costa
Rica is a nation based on laws and one with a democratic tradition, workers’
rights are systematically violated on the banana plantations. This has been
denounced before the ILO, specifically for violation of International
Conventions 87 and 92, signed and ratified by the Costa Rican State. The
employers, however, do not obey the sentences; they prefer, instead, to pay the
stipulated fines.
The small farmers who had
land around the plantations were pressured to sell their land to the companies
and emigrate or join the plantations as cheap hired labor. This situation was
aggravated by State entities such as the Institute of Agrarian Development
(IDA), which advised the small farmers that their property rights would be
rescinded if they did not incorporate themselves into the banana plantation
complex.
The State began to destine
its best resources to favor the Plan for Banana Development, in detriment of
other agricultural activities, and especially of small farmers. The State eliminated
credit for small farmers and suspended its technical support for marketing. In
numerous occasions, the banana companies even obtained the technical permits
from State employees to cut down trees (that prevent aerial fumigation) and
traditional banana plants that could be carriers of the banana disease
"sigatoka" or others, on the land of small farmers. After 1989 a
process of land concentration began. The land under banana cultivation went
from 3500 hectares to more than 5000 hectares in only three years. This is a
grave turn around regarding land distribution, where the best lands now went to
cultivate a monoculture for exportation.
The profits of this expansion
benefited the transnational companies almost exclusively, there being very few
banana producers of national capital. Moreover, about 75 percent of the profits
continue to remain in the hands of the exporters.
The Attitude of the Church
The Church, by way of the
then Vicarage of Limon (today Diocese), pastored by Mons. Alfonso Coto Monge,
along with the Clergy, carried out a socioeconomic and pastoral diagnostic at
the end of the 1980s. To conclude, they decided to publish a Pastoral Letter
"On the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry". This
document, published on the 25th of December of 1989, documented the crude
reality of the negative impacts the banana industry had and its implication on
social life, the environment and on the pastorate activities in the region.
The Letter recalled that
initially (in 1985) there was talk about expanding by 8000 hectares the area
dedicated to banana production, but in three years the area expanded by 21,000
hectares. The document warned about the consequences of this unplanned
expansion, expressing its opinion about what was occurring in the following
areas:* The dignity of Men and Women* Family Life* Economic Policies* Land
Tenure* Labor* Culture* Environmental Health and Ecological Unbalances*
Pastorate Activities
The document, prophetic in
its warnings and courageous in its denunciations, was rejected by the business
sector, the government and the officialist press that kept up a constant attack
for almost a semester against the Bishop and his priests, for involving
themselves in social and economic issues, instead of religious ones.
However, it was received as
"good news" by a wide gamma of grass roots sectors, including labor
and the environmental sectors of our society. This was a novel occurrence,
since in previous years, the only voice ever heard was that of the banana
business sector and the Solidarista Associations. The text of the Pastoral
Letter also warned against being fooled by the pseudo-Christian message
presented by Solidarismo: "We must point out that the work of labor
promotion carried out by the Social School Juan XXIII (Promoter of
Solidarismo), is not linked to the pastorate work carried out by the Apostolic
Vicarage of Limon, according to its Global Plan, and therefore its task does
not have in this particular Church an ecclesiastic character." This
warning is important, as the Social School Juan XXIII has been the instrument,
par excellence, for the disarticulation of labor unions.
In the same document, the
Church defends the rights denied to banana workers, both from a Christian
perspective, as well as from a legal one. It demands "(...) employment
stability, payments due to the workers, minimum wages, the required rest
periods, the permanent and systematic formation of worker organizations, the
freedom to organize independent of ideological and political interests, a just
salary, the right to strike within the proper limits, good working conditions,
and the integrated promotion of the family and the community in the areas of
culture, religion and social communal services."
With respect to the
concentration of land, the Bishop states: "Sadly, we are witness to how,
little by little, the small landowners begin to disappear, and suffer diverse
forms of pressure which force them to enter the Plan of Banana Development,
under the pretext that their lands are (apt for) this crop (...)".
In regard to the environment,
the priests, along with the Bishop, state: "We would like to point out the
gravity of the growing deforestation, contamination of rivers, the accumulation
of inorganic residues and agrochemicals which are causing infections, an
increase in digestive and skin diseases caused by fumigation and the use of
toxic chemicals, and the negative effects this has on some animal species in
danger of extinction."
After analyzing this
document, various organizations began to prepare a dialogue with the authors.
The Church represented a moral reserve and an authoratative voice that
commented on social issues that affected the common good, specially the
condition of the poorest sectors. The words of simple and humble people who had
been silenced for fear of losing their jobs, or who had not received a response
to their complaints, were an inspiration to grass roots organizations involved
in these matters and to others that subsequen-tly became interested.
The Foro Emaus is Born
The onslaught of attacks
coming from Solidarismo, the mass media, and the propaganda of the business
sector, incited numerous organizations to come together, among them, labor,
environmental, small farmer, ecclesiastical, indigenous, and communal
organizations, to discuss among themselves and with the Church of Limon, the
need to articulate efforts in order to form a united front against the problems
caused by the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry.
In this spirit of democratic
cooperation, a large number of grass roots leaders from different corners of
the Atlantic region and from the rest of the country, converged to discuss
these issues at the Casa Emaus a center for pastoral training located on the
sea shore, near the center of the city of Limon. Many non-governmental
organizations arrived, including environmental associations, Christian, labor,
small farmer, and human rights organizations. With this coming together of
leaders of grass roots organizations and the ecclesiastic leadership, the Foro
Emaus was born. After various encounters, the result was a proposal of
concerted action, with a commitment to mobilize before the authorities and
become the interlocutor between governmental authorities, the business sector,
and national and international public opinion.
With the constitution of the
Foro Emaus, the socioeconomic and environmental problems caused by the banana
industry began to be studied from an integrated perspective, as was suggested
in the Pastoral Letter. Thus emerged a grass roots proposal to halt the
irrational banana industry, by way of organized and concerted action, and to
fight for a just and environmentally sustainable form of banana production.
After deliberations carried
out the 13th and 14th of June of 1992, the Foro emmited a communique entitled
"Stop the Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana Industry", where it
agreed on the need to carry out public denunciations. This materialized in the
"March in Favor of Life and Human Rights" which took place on
September 2nd of that same year, in the streets of San Jose, calling to stop
the social and environmental disasters in Limon and Sarapiqui.
More than 2500 people marched
through the streets of the capital to demonstrate to the national and
international public opinion (citizenry and the press) the grave conditions on
the banana plantations and in the towns of the Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica.
The event included a dialogue with the representatives of the different
parliamentarian factions of the Legislative Assembly and of the national government,
to whom proposed laws and alternative solutions were presented.
The number of messages,
posters, banners, flyers, and the creativity demonstrated by the participants
from the Atlantic Region, as well as the people from the Capital who attended
in solidarity, contributed to consolidate the idea that the Foro Emaus was a
viable and a necessary space to fight for the interests of the grass roots
sectors, in a spirit of openness, democracy and ecumenism. But above all, it
was the conviction expressed by those affected, for the need to continue
fighting, and take advantage of the generous expression of solidarity of the
Costa Rican people, the aperture achieved in the press, and the demonstration
of support of some political and business sectors, that made changes seem
possible, and that there was hope for justice despite the power of adversaries.
From 1992 to date
With the expansion of the
area dedicated to banana production (today at 54,000 hectares), the problems
denounced at the start of the "Uncontrolled Expansion of the Banana
Industry", persisted after 1992, and new problems were aggravated despite
the policies of fixing quotas by the European Union, the pretensions of the
transnational companies to increase the export quotas every year continued. Meanwhile,
new data from academic and research institutes appeared confirming the gravity
of the environmental damage caused by the banana industry, as well as problems
in the area of labor health. The banana companies, both national and
transnational, carried out urgent publicity strategies to try to convince the
consumers that they were incorporating the best technological advances to deal
with the environmental demands of the international community. For this reason,
it was imperative to fight to unmask this fraudulent ideological strategy.
The same could be said
regarding the internal legal maneuvers that sought to stimulate the over
exploitation of workers with new ideas about labor relations, such as
"excellence and total quality" which in practical terms was (and is)
an intensification of the use of labor with psycho-labor techniques involving
individual competition, which result in more work, lower salaries, and worker
division. The causes that motivated the creation of the Foro Emaus, continued
and became worse, with the aggravated situation on the banana plantations and
in the communities. This required the intensification of the work of the Foro
Emaus, in its educative, organizational efforts with the workers, the
communities and the organizations involved.
Since then the Foro Emaus has
attempted to have the organizations participate actively in the process of
denunciations and proposals. More than the sum of its parts, the Foro Emaus is
a space of coordination which seeks the consensus of preoccupations and
initiatives, and where the sum of the forces may advance the struggles of the
poor and the rights of the communities.
As a result of that
collective will, the Foro Emaus has distributed duties and responsibilities in
the Foro Emaus, in different commissions created to undertake the work based on
the real needs of the population. The Foro Emaus has an Executive Secretary and
a Coordinating Committee elected annually, with the responsibility to
coordinate the execution of actions of the Foro Emaus.
The Assembly of the Foro
Emaus is made up of delegates of the more than 35 organizations that carry out
work in different areas of the Atlantic Region. The members with full rights
are organizations such as the banana workers unions, small farmer organizations,
indigenous associations, ecological institutions, historical churches, NGOs
dedicated to organic farming, labor education, and national labor unions with
regional presence.
The headquarters of the Foro
Emaus is in the city of Siquirres, at an equidistant point from the most
important urban centers of the Costa Rican Atlantic Region.
"REPRESSION IN THE ATLANTIC ZONE OF COSTA RICA"
By Gilbert Bermúdez Umaña and Ramón Barrantes Cascante for the Banana
Workers Unions Coordinator
This document has been distributed
to the following entities:
National and International
Labor Union Movement, National and International Non-Government Organizations,
International Development Organizations, World Trade Organization, European
Union, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, International Court of Human
Rights, International Labor Organization (ILO), Congress of the United States
of America, Department of Commerce of United States of America. The Banana
Workers Unions Coordinator of Costa Rica, made up of the Agricultural
Plantation Workers Union (SITRAP), Industrial Union of Agricultural Workers,
Cattle Raisers and Annexes of Heredia (SITAGAH), Chiriqui Land Company Workers
Union (SITRACHIRI), and the Workers Union of PAIS, S.A. (SITRAPAIS) (in
formation), denounce before national and international public opinion, the
mistreatment and the violation of human rights and workers rights by the banana
companies against thousands of male and female banana workers.
In effect, the labor unions
that are members of this Coordinator, by this means, once again, make public
the aggressions to which we are subject by the business sector of our country,
which has orchestrated a fierce campaign against the labor union Organizations,
the affiliated workers and labor union sympathizers, present in the banana
plantations of Costa Rica.
This campaign has different
levels, which go from verbal intimidation against the male and female workers
who sympathize with the Unions, to threats against the physical integrity of
labor union leaders, and the laying off of labor union members and leadership,
"blacklisting" these, and other mistreatments against our fellow male
and female workers.
Thus, our fellow workers
confront situations characterized by the following:
1. Long work days and low salaries
With the intention of raising
their competitiveness, the banana companies have implemented a series of
changes in the forms of production which go against the most fundamental rights
of banana workers. These aggressions include infringing the right to proper
rest periods, the imposition of long working days, which most often go from
twelve to sixteen hours a day, many times without the payment of overtime. The
salaries, also, are extremely low, when one considers the high cost of living
on the banana plantations.
Moreover, the male and female
banana workers have not received a real raise in salaries for approximately ten
years. What has increased are the work loads, and working hours, which explain
the "high salaries" that are quoted in the government and business
spheres. The truth is that these "high salaries" received by some
banana workers are the fruit of over exploitation with long working hours that
exceed the legal limits.
The salaries on the banana
plantations have in fact decreased. To cite one example, in 1993 the work day
of 8 hours earned the equivalent of 250 dollars a month, but in 1997 this same
time worked earns the equivalent of only 187 dollars. This descending curve,
which began in the early 90s, continues today.
The increased competitiveness
of banana companies rests on the shoulders of banana workers, male and female,
Costa Rican and foreign, on their growing poverty and exploitation. This
contradicts what the President of Costa Rica has expressed publicly, when he
says that the country will not compete in the international markets on the
basis of "poverty and low salaries, but on education and technology",
in order to maintain and raise the living conditions of the population. This,
however, is not the case for thousands of men and women who work on the banana
plantations.
On the other hand, we have
also been expressing our great concern over the fact that all these situations
have a negative impact on family life among banana workers, as well as on the
development of religious and spiritual values. In fact, the long working days
make it difficult for workers and their families to dedicate much time to
education, re-creation, culture and religious faith.
2. Lack of labor union
liberties
Currently the banana
companies promote models of worker organizations, that permit them to make
labor relations more flexible and controlable. At the same time, the companies
carry out disloyal labor practices which impede the workers from organizing
into labor unions.
There is no real freedom for
unions to organize on the banana plantations and packing plants, despite the
great number of national and international laws that require it. Every person,
man or woman, who tries to form part of a labor union, or who simply
sympathizes with a labor union, is automatically laid off, or is persecuted and
harassed until he or she renounces his or her affiliation to the union. As part
of this anti-union policy, the banana companies circulate the so-called black
lists among themselves. Recent examples of this problem are the cases cited
below: A. The Company PAIS, S.A. wants to impede the creation of a labor union
at all costs
This company, property of
CORBANA, S.A., located in Sixaola, is attempting all kinds of strategies to
prevent the creation of a union in the company. The workers who are discontent
with their salaries, poor working conditions, and poor treatment by the
company, decided to form a union in order to defend their rights collectively.
In turn, the company fired 11 workers, among them, 5 of the 7 members of the
Board of Directors of the newly formed union. This was done with the clear
intention of decapitating the movement.
Following this, the Company
began a process of moral intimidation of the workers so that they would not
join or would leave the labor union. The company also impedes the access of the
labor union leaders to the workplace, in clear violation of the Freedom of
Labor Union Organizing of the Political Constitution and the Labor Code, backed
by the International Agreements of the ILO.B. The Company el CEIBO, S.A.: labor
union leader receives death threat
One of the members of the
Board of Directors of SITRAP received a death threat by one of the upper
officials of the Company El Ceibo, S.A.
This action took place in the
context of an ongoing battle between the company and the labor union, where the
following points need to be highlighted: -Labor union leaders are denied access
to the work place, receiving threats against their physical integrity from the
private guard of the company.
-The disaffiliation of
workers from the labor union is unlawfully promoted.
-There is discrimination of
workers affiliated to the labor unions, who do not receive the same rights and
worker guarantees.
-There is unlawful laying off
of workers affiliated to labor unions.C. The Company CANFIN, S.A.: Massive
laying off of workers affiliated to the labor union SITAGAH
In this company, member of
the COBAL group, and subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, with headquarters in Puerto
Viejo of Sarapiqui, 21 workers affiliated to the union SITAGAH were laid off on
the 12th of October of 1996 (a holiday). This constitutes a clear violation of
workers’ rights.
Moreover, these workers
suffer the cruel situation where they are unable to obtain work in other banana
companies because CANFIN, S.A. passed the "black list" with their
names on it to the rest of the companies, denying them the UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO
EMPLOYMENT.
3. Poor Work Conditions
As part of the policies of
"minimizing costs" some companies maintain unfavorable working conditions
that threaten the health and life of those who work on the plantations and in
the packing plants. The workers are not adequately trained regarding the
fundamental norms of labor health, often resulting in work place accidents,
where furthermore, many companies do not pay the work place risk insurance,
leaving the workers vulnerable to any accident at the work place.
As a result of this
situation, we find many illnesses among banana workers, most of which are
caused by the contamination by the inadequate use of agrochemicals, a problem
which has received little attention by both the government and business
sectors.
4. Complicity of the
Government
The governmental authorities
reveal a dilatory attitude in all the processes that the labor union Organizations
present to the offices of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, making
them "accomplices" to the business sector strategy against the banana
workers and their organizations. This complicity is open in many Inspectors of
Labor, and veiled in the case of the middle and higher levels of the Ministry
of Labor.
This situation leaves the
workers and their union organizations completely defenseless in their struggle
to defend their interests and rights, which are guaranteed in the National
Legislation and backed by the International Agreements of the International
Labor Organization.
As a sample of the complicity
of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security with the business sector, we offer
the following cases in which this Ministry has slowed and blocked processes,
delaying any resolution, and giving the companies time to continue doing as
they wish. Unresolved cases by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security
(M.T.S.S.) in Siquirres.
RIO PALACIOS, S.A.: Process
in the Ministry of Labor since 1994 where labor union Persecution and Disloyal
Labor Practices are denounced.
PACUARE, S.A.: Process in the
Ministry of Labor since 1994, still unresolved.
ZENT, S.A.: Process in the
Ministry of Labor since 1994 still unresolved.
SIQUIRREYA, S.A.: Process
with the resolution to file the case away, rendering the process questionable.
CODELA, S.A.: Process filed away without resolution since 1993, regarding
Company non-compliance with worker labor union quotas, and for Disloyal Labor
Practices and labor union persecution. Unresolved cases by the Inspector
General of Labor of the M.T.S.S. in Sarapiqui, presented by the labor union
SITAGAH
BANANA COMPANY GACELA, S.A.:
Request for inspection the 17th of July of 1995. This process has not been
resolved and is still in the Office of the Minister.
BANANA COMPANY GUAPINOL,
S.A.: Process initiated in 1995, still without resolution, without even the
required private hearing. The company has refused to give information to the
Ministry of Labor. There are also three more cases regarding illegal layoffs of
representatives of workers (Henry Prudente, Abel Miranda and Francisco Javier
Espinoza).
BANANA COMPANY EL ROBLE,
S.A.: Process initiated in March of 1996, without resolution and in violation
of due process for not submitting a report within three days after the hearing,
as the law demands.
BANANA COMPANY GAVILAN, S.A.:
Process initiated in 1996. This case involves the unwillingness of the company
to take out the union quota, and the layoff of a woman worker member of the
Board of Directors of the labor union, as well as the harassment of workers
affiliated to the union.
DESARROLLO BANANERO DEBA,
S.A.: Process initiated in March of 1996, harassment and persecution of
affiliated workers, unjustified laying off of member of Board of Directors of
the labor union.
BANANA COMPANY NOGAL: Process
initiated in 1996, without receiving a hearing and still unresolved.
BANANA COMPANY OROPEL, S.A.:
Process initiated one year ago without resolution, and another more recent
process also without resolution.
BANANA COMPANY CANFIN, S.A.:
Process initiated in early 1996. A private hearing was called for, where the
company refused to appear and only the union appeared. Because the company
presented a petition of nullity, although in an improper fashion, the case was
sent to the Office of the Minister without resolution. This case is in addition
to the denunciation made to the Minister in a note the 8th of July of 1997, in
reference to the laying off of 21 workers the 12th of October of 1996, for the simple
reason of the workers requesting a meeting with the administration during a
holiday.
BANANA COMPANY GUAYACAN,
S.A.: Process initiated in 1996 without resolution.
It should be pointed out that
in all the cases due process is violated, where justice is neither prompt nor
resolved, in violation of the Legislation of Public Administration which
requires the presentation of a report three days after the private hearings.
In face of this situation,
the Banana Workers Unions Coordinator of Costa Rica requests the following from
the national and international labor union Movement, national and international
Non-Governmental Organizations, international organizations of human rights,
European and North American entities where decisions are made regarding the international
problems of the banana industry: